WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1990
IS OUR
"OUR LINKS WITH JAPAN ARE AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE, JAPAN FIFTH LARGEST EXPORT MARKET AND SECOND LARGEST SUPPLIER. AND WE ARE YOUR FIFTH LARGEST EXPORT MARKET TOO, INDEED YOUR MOST LUCRATIVE ON A PER CAPITA BASIS EACH PERSON IN HONG KONG BUYS OVER US$2,000
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OF JAPANESE GOODS EACH YEAR," SIR DAVID SAID.
HE
WORTH
DOUBLED
POINTED OUT THAT TRADE BETWEEN HONG KONG AND JAPAN IN DOLLAR TERMS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS, FROM US$8 BILLION IN 1985 TO US$16.4 BILLION.
"THE TWO-WAY TRADE BALANCE HAS BEEN CONSISTENTLY IN JAPAN'S FAVOUR. BUT. AS A FIRM BELIEVER IN FREE TRADE, HONG KONG DOES NOT BEGRUDGE JAPAN'S EXPORTS.
"RATHER WE WELCOME THEM. JAPAN IS AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF SUPPLIES OF CONSUMER GOODS, RAW MATERIALS, SEMI-MANUFACTURERS AND CAPITAL GOODS TO HONG KONG, THE CHIEF SECRETARY SAID.
"T
SIR DAVID POINTED OUT THAT ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT, BUT NOT MUCH PUBLICISED, DEVELOPMENT IN RECENT YEARS WAS THE INCREASE IN SINO-JAPAN TRADE THROUGH HONG KONG.
TO
A
"THIS HAS INCREASED BY NINE TIMES: FROM US$0.6 BILLION IN 1985 STAGGERING US$4.9 BILLION IN 1989, ONE QUARTER of TOTAL SINO- JAPAN TRADE, SIR DAVID NOTED.
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"MOST ENCOURAGING OF ALL, FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW, IS THAT JAPAN IS THE SECOND LARGEST SOURCE OF INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT IN HONG KONG, WITH INVESTMENT TOTALLING OVER US$900 MILLION.
Fr
"AND OUR PREDICTION IS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TAKEN OVER FIRST PLACE FROM THE UNITED STATES BEFORE THE END OF THE CENTURY, THE CHIEF SECRETARY ADDED.
0
INDUSTRIAL POLICIES HAVE BECOME MORE PRO-ACTIVE
THE
COMPETITIVE
GOVERNMENT'S INDUSTRIAL POLICIES HAVE BECOME MORE PRO-ACTIVE IN THE LIGHT OF A MORE TECHNOLOGICALLY ENVIRONMENT, THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRY, MR ANDREW LEUNG, SAID THIS (WEDNESDAY) AFTERNOON.
SPEAKING AT A LUNCH MEETING OF THE HONG KONG ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, MR LEUNG SAID THESE POLICIES REMAINED LARGELY RESPONSIVE TO ENTREPRENEURIAL INITIATIVES AND WERE DESIGNED "TO SUPPORT, ΤΟ FACILITATE, TO STIMULATE BUT NOT TO INTERFERE WITH THE MARKET PLACE",
MR LEUNG SAID THE TERM "POSITIVE OFTEN MISQUOTED, MISUSED AND MISUNDERSTOOD.
NON-INTERVENTIONISM" WAS
/"THE TRUTH